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Proud to be named TOP OPTICIAN 2026!

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It is with great pride that we share some wonderful news with all our clients: on Sunday, May 25, 2026, Vascellari Optic in Venice, together other 99 esteemed colleagues from all over Italy, was awarded the Top Optician 2026 award.

This prestigious accolade was established for the very first time in Italy by the AIO (Italian Opticians Association) of Florence to honor optical centers that stand out for their professional expertise and entrepreneurial vision. The award ceremony took place in front of around 500 guests at the stunning Castelbrando in Cison di Valmarino (Treviso).

The Top Optician jury, composed of industry suppliers and Italian training centers, evaluated the following criteria:

  • Professional expertise and continuous training
  • The curated selection of products offered to clients
  • Customer dedication and service
  • Window display design and care
  • Environmental sustainability, including grinding lens processing filtration systems and energy-efficient lighting
  • A passion for research combined with the heritage and history of the company

The Top Optician award itself features a statue of an athlete crossing the finish line with open arms—a symbol of being fully aware that while new challenges lie ahead, they will be faced with the mindset of a winner.

We owe this incredible achievement entirely to You, our clients, who have trusted us throughout all these years.

Thank you!

Top Optician Italia 2026: le migliori realtà professionali dell’Ottica in Italia

The Venetian baìcoli and the changing Venice

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The spring 2026 window display is dedicated to the most famous Venetian biscuit, the “baìcolo.” This biscuit could be stored for months in Venetian galleys at sea without fear of mold, thanks to its completely dry manufacturing process.

Many bakeries produced it in the past, but the most famous and long-standing is Angelo Colussi’s. A couple of photos on display remind our Venetian customers, who were present until 1965, of its location on the corner opposite our shop on Ruga Rialto (now Brocca Abbigliamento).

We thank Massimo Orlandini, company historian, who published the magnificent book on the history of Colussi and provided us with the materials for the window display: on the left, a splendid print by Lavena with its matching baicoli tin. Next up is a Colussi tin covered with a paper print from the early 1900s, and other tins from the mid-1900s with silkscreens.

We recall here the nursery rhyme that most Venetians recite by heart: “No gh’è a sto mondo, no più bel biscoto, più fin, più dolse, più lisiero e san par mogiar ne a cìcara o nel goto del baìcolo nostro venessian” (translation: There is no other biscuit in the world more beautiful, thinner, sweeter, lighter, and healthier to dip in the cup or glass than our Venetian baicolo).

 

 

 

 

 

Carnevale 2026

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This year’s Carnival windows feature a collection of leather masks handcrafted by actor-artist Massimo Pagan.

All the masks are dedicated to the Commedia dell’Arte, from Dr. Balanzone to Pantalon dei Bisognosi, from Captain Fracassa and the Witch to the Harlequin family, including Truffaldino and Trivellino.

Each mask was hand-wrought with tools made by Massimo himself, using tools crafted from deer antler.

We also extend our heartfelt thanks to Massimo for the animated presentation during the character introductions.

      

The theme of the 2026 Venice Carnival is dedicated to the Milan-Cortina Olympics winter games, and a store window has been set up on this theme.

The Lens of Time

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May 7 – July 30, 2025

A new adventure has involved, our knowledge of the history of eyewear, since the beginning of the year 2025.

In collaboration with the Museo dell’Occhiale in Pieve di Cadore (directed by Daniela Zambelli and curated by Elena Maierotti), and with Alessandra Cusinato for the publication of the explanatory panels, we have developed an exhibition route exploring the history of eyewear in Italy from the 1200s to the 1900s.

The exhibition, funded by ANFAO (National Association of Optical Goods Manufacturers), has been set up in the restored historic building of Palazzo Flangini, located in Campo San Geremia in Venice—just a 3-minute walk from the Santa Lucia train station.

 

On display are original historical pieces from four important private collections and the Eyewear Museum.

We would like to thank Luca Moioli (Paris) for the splendid hat spectacles, the Nicoletta and Maurizio Pallone family (Terni) for the riveted spectacles worn by Sean Connery in the film The Name of the Rose, and for the incredible Venetian scissor spectacles with sun lenses.

Also featured in the section covering the period from 1200 to 1800 are numerous pieces from our own collection. For the Vintage section, spanning 1800–1900, we showcase the collection of Luca Stramare (an Italian eyewear designer).

Our display window, an extension of the exhibition, invites all those interested to visit FREE.

Daniela Zambelli, Martina Colombari e Roberto        Jacopo Veneziani (art historian) e Roberto

     

Guided tour, Roberto and the “press”

Carnival 2025

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300 years after the birth of Giacomo Casanova, the Venice Carnival returns to enchant the world from February 14 to March 4, 2025, with a special edition, entitled “Casanova’s Time”. We have therefore dedicated our windows display to the timeless figure of the Venetian seducer and adventurer.

We thank our client Mrs. Marinella Pretto for the loan of some of her clothes, entirely hand-made and dedicated to eighteenth-century in Venice, which adorn our windows display. We are also greatful to  “Gli Amici di Pierrot” for their handmade papier-mâché bauta – the tipical white venitian mask, usually worn with a cloak and a tricorn hat by men in several occasions, not just during Carnival season, to be not recognize during some of their “leasure activities”.  www.gliamicidipierrot.com

 

  

         

Games on the beach

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This month’s showcase is dedicated to beach games.

We wish all our esteemed customers a good holiday (for those who will be taking it) and a happy 15 August to everyone.

We’ll see you again on August 27th.

 

 

 

 

Donate your used eyeglasses!

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There are over 15,000 eyeglasses that together we have donated over the past 30 years!

   

A heartfelt thank you to those who deposit their used eyeglasses in the special box every day and to those who devote their free time to sorting and cataloging these items, giving a smile to those who cannot afford them.

Since 1993 we have delivered, through some major collection centers such as AIDO, Don Orione Foundation, One Sight Foundation and for the past few years Lions, thousands of new and recycled eyeglasses to numerous charities around the world.

Customers often ask us: But where do they go?

From today, thanks to a dedicated service by Lions Clubs International , will allow us to know the destination by simply registering the WhatsApp number and indicating the city or province of pick-up.

Donating is a sign of love, and now as never before also toward our planet…

                               

Translated with DeepL

Teddy Bears and nearsightedness

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We thank our lovely customer Rosarita Meneghetti for the collection of Teddy Bears that crowns the window dedicated to myopia in children and the promising ophthalmic solution to prevent its uncontrolled worsening.

Read more at our page dedicated to this very timely topic: https://www.otticavascellari.it/controllo-della-miopia/

Ms. Rosarita’s love for these soft toys has turned into a real passion for restoration and production of these teddy bears. In the window we can recognize the four-eyed teddy bear, the love bear (1920), the retired teddy bear and a lovable little elephant that as soon as it was displayed attracted the attention of a little boy of about 7 years old who was intent on buying it as a gift for his elephant-loving mother!

For any such requests I recommend you visit: www.orsiavenezia.com

         

Once upon a time and there will always be St. Mark’s

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This month’s window is dedicated to the exhibition “Once Upon a Time and There Will Always Be St. Mark’s“, on display at the Olivetti store designed by renowned Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa.

Organized by FAI Fondo Ambiente Italiano with the St. Mark’s Square Association in collaboration with the Carlo Montanaro Archive / La Fabbrica del Vedere , it presents to the public fifty etchings, lithographs, photographs and film stills of St. Mark’s Square and the surrounding area. Some of these usable even with anaglyphic glasses for three-dimensional vision.

The Exhibition curated by friend collector and film historian Carlo Montanaro, illustrates through the works in his collection, all the stages of image processing since it is possible to reproduce them, focusing on a subject that is always the same and always different: St. Mark’s Square.

We proudly point out that among the exhibited works it is possible to observe a very rare allegory of Venice as seen from the basin of St. Mark’s, from a German publication, which reminds us how much OPTICS was also held in consideration among the arts practiced in Venice in the very early 1700s.  The print does not appear so far to have been published in any work devoted to the history of optics and spectacles and is in our private collection.

The exhibition is open to the public from February 14 until February 26, 2023.

        

                                             

Happy Easter

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Easter is approaching and, like every year, we dedicate our showcase in this period to Easter.

This time, however, it wants to be a slightly more thoughtful Easter, dedicated to reading and also, why not, to good company, perhaps with whom to discuss about the readings  just finished.

This showcase specifically presents 4 literary works by local artists (one of which Roberto Vascellari).

The first work “Japan on the nose” is an all-out research that reveals to history lovers, eyewear collectors and the simply curious the progress of an object created primarily for eye protection around 1000 BC. which, later reinvented in the West, took on specific forms and peculiarities in the Japanese archipelago.

A complete guide that explores every single aspect of the history of this object that remained mysterious for a long time in its evolution in Japan.

The other three works carry all the same signature, Riccardo Canciani, an author from Veneto who, treasuring the life experiences in 80 years, has decided to spread his philosophical thoughts.

“A man called Mauro”  he tells the intimate journey of an ordinary man who knew how to treasure common experiences to identify his purpose in life and pursue it in a coherent and tenacious way.

“I am Daniele” tells the story of Daniele who, just past the retirement age, examines his life and tells it focusing on some aspects and facts that have marked and taught him. Now, at the age of 67, he retires to a mountain cottage where he spends his days in close contact with nature, immersed in a world of new sounds and colors.

“The Great Journey” is the journey of knowledge through the analysis of the events that led to the evolution of man, up to a higher level of knowledge. All works are available on Amazon, both in print and digital format for Kindle.

All of these texts are mostly surrounded by specific frames for reading glasses, or “half glasses” as we know them more commonly. Simple, inexpensive and colorful, these glasses give a touch of sympathy to a condition (presbyopia) that is experienced by many as a problem. People don’t age, they acquire wisdom.